An Onionskin Life

We peeled away another layer of our current life this past weekend and said goodbye to our dear friends Cassandra Tyra Rose and Garrett Eggers. Although we've known them less than two years and there is an age gap significant enough that we could be their parents, we developed a wonderful bond.

Cassie and Garrett are moving on as well, to Cleveland where Garrett will be working in pharmacy management at the Cleveland Clinic and Cassie will try to find interpreting gigs for the deaf community. We actually said goodbye twice! They joined us on Sunday evening for DIY kabobs and grilled peaches and ice cream for dessert, but inadvertently took my camera home with them. We met up again for dinner at a nearby outdoor bar and grille on Tuesday where they treated me royally and returned my camera!

While we were dining on the river, tied up between the poles of a defunct marina, a pair of dragon boats came wandering by. Two crews of women pulling for all they were worth, so here's a shout out to the Steel City Dragons (http://www.steelcitydragons.org/). I'm going to put this on my bucket list; I'd love to try it someday!

I'm sure there will be many more layers peeled off before we leave Pittsburgh and, just like peeling onions, each will have its own share of tears. Goodbye, Cassie and Garrett, but not forever!

Things I Miss

Bill's pretty worried that I won't adapt to our new lifestyle; nearly every evening he asks, "Is it okay? Are you okay?" and I reply, "I haven't gotten cabin fever yet!" The adjustment hasn't been traumatic, in part because we've had five previous summers to get into our rhythm and learn to live without certain amenities. However, there are some things I miss a little bit:

1. My own washer and dryer! We've done one week's worth using the marina's facility. They have three washers and three dryers; one load costs $3.25 to wash and dry. We were lucky enough to have all three to ourselves so we filled 'em up and strolled over to the bar 'n grill for dinner, taking turns to check on the status and move the loads into the dryers. It's still a time-consuming process but, with our transportable wi-fi, we can multi-task on the laptops. (Nah, I'm not doing laundry right now!)

2. My easy commute! Formerly six miles from home to office; I could work a little later and not have to face a 45-minute drive home. So far I've tried three different routes and they are all within a few minutes of 45 and a mile or two within 26. I even finally got a turnpike EZ-Pass for the first time ever; pretty slick! I guess it's not so much the time or the traffic that annoys me, but the additional gas at 14.7 mpg. I am filling my tank every week instead of every 10-12 days. Rumor has it that the cost of a gallon will be dropping soon!

3. A climate-controlled environment. Blessed (!) with naturally frizzy hair, I spend more time than I should each morning trying to tame it. Previously I could go from an air-conditioned house to an air-conditioned car in the garage and make it into the office pretty much satisfied with the results. So far this past week I've had five bad hair days; one of my co-workers even told me how sorry he was that I looked like Peter Frampton. Nice.

4. Finally, I miss my cat Ocie most of all. I don't know if cats miss people the same way that dogs will pine for their masters so I hope that he is adjusting to being cared for by former neighbors. The new owners of our townhome already had two cats and declined to take on a third, darn them!

So, all in all, not a long list of things I miss and they are certainly outweighed by the benefits of being a live-aboard:

1. Less housecleaning! While I do have to vacuum, dust, and clean two heads (aka bathrooms), I can pretty much do a thorough job in less than 30 minutes, which is about three hours and 30 minutes less than what I used to do. That's 3.5 more hours each week to read, blog, visit and, oh yeah, help Bill with the exterior maintenance of the boat.

2. More socializing! We have great friends here on H-Dock at the Fox Chapel Yacht Club; there are four couples who have been here as long as or longer than us (shown below) and several more in the past two or three years who have joined this dock and they are all nice, courteous people, fun to be with. We celebrate the summer birthdays, have a potluck or two during the season, play lots of Scrabble and Rummikub, and get together at Christmas (thanks, Bob and BJ -- you are tremendous hosts!).

3. The adventure of it all! We hope to get 10 good years of living on the water before making a more permanent move back to dry land. God willing and our health remains good, you may have to put up with a lot more blogs from me!

Celebrating Summer

The first day of summer is Bill's most favorite day of the year, totally because the light lingers the longest on this day. Who doesn't remember childhood summer evenings, playing tag or catch or trying to capture fireflies? We don't seem to have many lightening bugs in Pittsburgh; I think I've only seen a few over the decades here. The river was calm tonight; not too much traffic, recreational or otherwise. Now that we're berthed in a slip closer to the middle of the river we have a different perspective. This view is from the fly bridge looking back toward the stern. We have a new flag on the stern canopy; the previous one disappeared in a strong gale a few weeks ago.

Saturday morning we hosted an impromptu continental breakfast on the main deck as three other couples joined us to see the annual poker run commence. Each year the marina sponsors a competition for all the go-fast boats. Although it's not a race -- you simply have to pick up five cards from various points along the river and the best hand wins -- they all take off at once parallel to our dock and head down the Allegheny only to come to an abrupt halt when they reach the lock and dam two miles later. This year I got a few quick photos but the one that had us all laughing was this one: can you imagine the look on this skier's face when nearly 20 boats exploded out of the water seemingly heading toward him?

Notice the "no wake" buoy bobbing in the water? Two weeks ago the river was running so high it was completely submerged. Yet there were still eager boaters out on the river then, dodging logs and other debris just to shake off winter's lingering effects. We'll have an opportunity to take Pure Grace out this weekend as we host the first of many summer parties. Our good friends Cassandra and Garrett Eggers are moving to Cleveland next week so we'll talk ourselves hoarse before the night is over!

Tomorrow is Bill's 65th birthday and we'll celebrate the reason we're now "river liv-ers"!

It's Moving Day...Of Course It's Raining

Almost at the eleventh hour it's all come together. The last of the large items have been sold and will be picked up by tomorrow when we come back to clean the townhouse. Meanwhile, the moving company showed up at 8 o'clock on the dot and are busily covering the tile and wood floors and the carpet in preparation to make countless steps in and out of the house.

The rain was originally forecast to be later in the day and we hoped to avoid it but when I woke up at 6 o'clock I could hear it on the roof. Great. So the only place I can get a wireless signal is out on the deck, the bare deck, I might add. I can literally feel my hair devolve into chia-being. Great.

Last night was the last night after nearly 16 years in this home, the longest either of us have lived in the same place. Although Bill hasn't verbalized it, his emotions are all over his face; he hates endings so this is sad for him. He's also very worried about all the stuff we'll be moving to the boat, where it will fit without cluttering up surfaces, how accessible it will be. We'll just have to make a committed and concerted effort to stow things after we use them.

The Village of Bradfordwoods is a very lovely community, made up of single family homes and four-unit townhome buildings, built in a New England style, with addresses like Saybrook, Mystic, Marblehead, Salem and Boothbay Harbors. Over the years it's been funny to watch sales clerks struggle with our address: "How do you spell 'harbor'?" "Is Bradfordwoods one word or two?" This area is both very accessible to major highways and turnpikes and also off the beaten path, with lots of green space, a couple of koi-stocked ponds, and a walking trail. The local fauna include deer, raccoons, herons, snapping turtles, foxes, the occasional snake and of course, bullfrogs who share the ponds with the koi.

This has been a nice place to grow into middle age. We'll miss it, even as we look forward to new adventures and challenges on the water. Did I ever mention that I'm not a very good swimmer?

Identity Theft

Craig and I have become pretty good friends. Well, his list and I are friends in the business sense. I’ve posted nearly 40 items on the site since early April and have had great success. I’ve also met some really nice people in the transactions… an elementary school teacher, a police officer, a college professor, college students, a Canadian, a young married couple, a receptionist at a country club, a professional house painter, to mention a few.

Two weeks ago I posted the antique chest that belonged to my husband’s grandmother, and received an email inquiry the next day. The buyer is in the States studying and wanted to ship the piece back to England. We agreed that a shipping agent would handle the packing and shipping and that we would use PayPal for the transaction. Because this was an international transaction, she asked if she could pay me for the shipping through PayPal also and if I would pay the shipping agent through Western Union.

So, okay, I got an email from PayPal instructing me to open a Western Union account and where to wire $690 (for shipping). Thank God, literally, that I needed to run home over the lunch hour to get my Western Union account code off my home phone voice mail because I had time to re-read the PayPal email. As many of you know, I’m a ferocious stickler for good grammar, spelling and punctuation and I have high standards for businesses. The grammar in the PayPal email had some inexcusable mistakes (…at any of there office in…) and that raised a question in my mind. I contacted PayPal, forwarded the email and was told it was a phishing expedition. After I told Bill about it, he googled the alleged agent’s name and address and found that the guy was a convicted sex offender!

Although I did not lose any money, the alleged buyer and her agent now know my email address and my current address (until June 20th). I’m still sick about the close brush with identity theft and fraud.

The incident helps to remind me, though, that my identity as a child of God is secure as long as I listen to His voice and not to that of the father of lies. Satan is the master at identity theft. If we listen to his voice long enough we start to believe we’re someone or something that we’re not – God. And that’s real identity theft!

“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are Mine.” Isaiah 43:1b

Music for the Soul

Our moving schedule has been accelerated! We are closing on June 20 and have movers coming next Thursday, June 16. I believe I've developed some tendonitis in my right wrist from the continual motion required to tape the tops and bottoms of boxes...lots and lots of boxes! One of the last chores left is to go through hundreds of discs and once again make keep/sell decisions. Bill's taste in music has always run toward classical, liturgical and pipe organ while my favorite disks are those of contemporary Christian and  praise music. We meet in the middle with Broadway show tunes and late '60s/early '70s protest songs (think of Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Don McLean and Peter, Paul & Mary). Neither one of us have "converted" to iPods or MP3 players so finding a way to store a lot of discs is a little challenging.

A few years ago I found an attractive leather storage box through Red Envelope that holds 100 discs (sans jewel cases). My goal this week: winnow these stacks down to as close to 100 as possible! Oh, the stacks in the back? My music!

On a related topic...our boat was moved to a new slip this year, farther out on the dock. It's a new perspective from the flybridge (fewer boats to obstruct the view of the river) and has the added advantage that Bill can crank up the organ music when he's swabbing the decks with lesser concern for the teasing that our dock neighbors like to do.

Decisions! Decisions!

For those who follow me on Facebook, you know that the buyers reached out through the realtors to see if we could move the closing up 15 days to June 15th. Our carefully orchestrated schedule does not have us moved out until June 24th...in fact we have not yet had a moving company provide an estimate or a date! But whether we close on the original June 30th date or it moves up a week, we put some serious time in this weekend packing boxes. The photo below shows just a portion, approximately 44 out of more than 50 packed thus far.

Although this is our third move, it's the first time I've really had to do much packing. On each of the previous two moves, my dear mother-in-law spent most of her two-week visits packing our household goods. This time, as I packed and made go/no-go decisions, I paused over all her lovely treasures bequeathed to us. She came from an era and a social class where fine china, crystal, silver and linens were de rigour for afternoon tea, card parties, cocktail hours and elaborate dinners. And, while I appreciate the beauty of these items, I struggle with the decision to keep most of it. I have always been intrigued by this antique silver sardine chest!

Bill is more sentimental about the tools, some of which he's had for 40 years, that he's decided to sell. I can understand that completely! He's put a lot of skill and sweat into many home projects in each of our three homes. We've remodeled more rooms than I can remember, stripping them down to floorboards and drywall. The Craftsman radial arm saw, in particular, was a difficult one to part with but we were glad that one of my co-workers wanted to buy it.

One of the items that is posing a real dilemma is a 100-year-old-plus chest/secretary that belonged to Bill's grandmother. He remembers his grandmother, who lived with Bill's family in Hinsdale, Illinois, spending each evening seated at the fold-out desktop, writing letters or "keeping" her books. While it's very old, it doesn't appear to be a "name" antique. We've looked in vain for a manufacturer or craftsman's name or a date. When my mother-in-law shipped it to us from Phoenix nearly 15 years ago, it cost over $400 in freight.

One thing that I've discovered the past week while packing is not to do it when I'm tired. I find that I either keep more "stuff" than I should or I rashly decide to put it aside for sale. But it is just stuff after all, and I won't be able to take it me in the eternal long run! As the wise doctor Luke wrote of Jesus speaking to his followers: "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."